Organic summer kisses

One fair trade and three organic lip balms, put to the test.

Kiss petroleum-based Chapstick goodbye and embrace organic certified lip balms — which really do their job better than the synthetic stuff anyway. I keep a lip balm in different spots in the house and various purses for easy access! Here’s what I’m using now:

Balm Balm Lip Balm. I discovered this UK company at the Natural Products Expo West earlier this year — and have been using Balm Balm Rose Geranium lip balm before going to bed every night. This all-organic lip balm’s made with shea butter, sunflower, beeswax, jojoba, calendula, and essential oils — and nothing else! All the ingredients are certified organic by the UK’s Soil Association. Fragrance-sensitive people will be happy to know that a fragrance-free version’s also available. Find Balm Balm at Beauty Habit; a 7 ml jar costs $6.

Origins Organics Soothing Lip Balm. Part of the mostly USDA-certified Origins Organics line here, this 97 percent organic lip balm moisturizes with organic shea and cocoa butters, as well sunflower, safflower, palm, coconut and vanilla oils. I love the subtle buttery vanilla scent in this lip balm and keep it in my makeup box. The one downside to this balm: Origins is owned by Estee Lauder, a company not exactly known for embracing eco-friendly practices. A .15 oz tube costs $15 at Origins.

Softlips Pure Organic Lip Conditioner. This well-known lip balm company’s come out with an organic “Pure” line, boasting 95 percent organic ingredients and the USDA organic label. The Acai Berry flavor I have on my desk plus the five other flavors — pomegranate, honeydew, papaya, peppermint and chai tea — will be popular with people who are less about organic essential oils and more about fruity flavors. While I do like the Acai scent, I’m a bit concerned that the ingredient list simply includes a less-than-informative item called “flavor,” though since even non-organic ingredients have to be okay’d by the USDA for the product to receive the organic seal, the undisclosed flavor is unlikely to be anything sinister. Owned by a multinational company called Mentholatum that I don’t know much about, Softlips Pure is the easiest balm to find in major stores, since they’re in major drugstores and in Target. A .07 oz tube costs $2.99.

Anti-Body Lip Balm. This product isn’t organic certified, but I’m making an exception to include it in this roundup because Anti-Body is a unique company that’s making fair trade pretty. The Anti-Body Wintergreen Zen lip balm I carry in my purse has a minty kick from wintergreen essential oil — in addition to the moisturizing goodness of fair trade shea butter and coconut oil. And because Anti-Body’s a local company — the three cofounders of the company are among the seven cofounders of The Buy Local Campaign, Pasadena Chapter — I support its products — and hope that they’ll switch to organic ingredients for all their products. A .15 oz tube costs $2.49 at Anti-Body, and can also be found at Co-opportunity, local Whole Foods stores, and other green-thinking stores.